Grae’s Favourite GREEN Smoothie

I know that green smoothies may seem a little trendy with all of the New Year’s resolutions happening right now, but the truth is that they’re really easy, really healthy, and pretty much a fool-proof way to start your day.

Grae and I have been making green smoothies for a long while now (and even made one with all green ingredients for last year’s St. Patrick’s Day), but I decided I’d make a habit of making one each morning after slipping into a routine of skipping breakfast for the last couple of months of 2012. So far, we’ve pretty much started each day of the New Year with a green smoothie of some sort (we often just add a couple of giant handfuls of kale or spinach to this trusty standby), but this particular one has quickly become our very favourite.

Here’s the lineup of ingredients… Some cold water, several ice cubes, pure orange juice (or better yet – a fresh squeezed orange), half an apple, a pear, a banana, and a few kale leaves.

To get started, peel the banana, chop up the pear, and peel and chop the apple (as long as you don’t mind some added texture, feel free to leave the apple peel on).

Now pop those things into the blender {while sneaking a few bites of course}.

Next, remove the stems from the kale.

And add it to the blender along with the orange juice, water, and ice cubes.

This part isn’t necessary and certainly doesn’t change the flavour, but we always add a big scoop of chia seeds to our smoothies. The nutritional benefits of chia are amazing and it keeps your smoothie from separating if you store extras in the fridge overnight. Bonus!

Next, blend everything up. We normally start on a low setting until the ingredients are combined, then crank it up and let it blend a while longer so that it doesn’t feel as though you’re drinking a salad. ☺

(If you really don’t like the idea of drinking leaves and want your smoothie to be as smooth as possible, blend just your liquids and leafy greens first, then add in the other ingredients afterwards.)

Now pour into cups and enjoy!

Gracen’s Favourite Green Smoothie

1 banana, peeled

1 ripe pear, chopped

1/2 an apple (we usually use Galas, Ambrosias, or Fujis), peeled and chopped

3 big leaves of kale, stems removed

1 tablespoon of chia seeds

1 cup of cold water

1/2 cup of pure orange juice (or the juice from 1 large orange)

4 ice cubes

Add all ingredients to a blender and blend for approximately 45 seconds.

Enjoy!

♥

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15 thoughts on “Grae’s Favourite GREEN Smoothie”

I love, love, love green smoothies juices first thing in the morning! Will need to try your recipe — by the way the pictures with your wee one helping to make the smoothie are precious. Kudos too you momma for teaching your little one healthy habits from the start!

Hi!! The mean green has kale, celery, cucumber, lemon, apples, mint, kiwi fruit and ginger. I sometimes add pears and obviously you can add other green fruits and veggies depending on availability and seasons, in place of kale you can add spinach….etc… It’s so uplifting and full of goodness, the lemon and ginger add a nice zing and the apples and kiwi fruit add a beautiful sweetness x

Hiya! Have you found that the Chia Seeds give it a super jello-like texture? I added ground flaxseed AND Chia Seeds… so maybe it was the combo? I love the idea of using the Chia seeds, but am wondering if they always bring such a texture. =) THANKS!!

They definitely thicken things up a bit! 🙂 I actually like that about them because you can store extra smoothie in the fridge without it separating and getting gross, but if it’s turned jello-like, my guess is you’ve used too much. I’d try scaling back the amount of chia and see if that helps. Good luck! 🙂